


Anchor

by Spiria



Category: World Trigger
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-13
Updated: 2016-10-13
Packaged: 2018-08-22 05:01:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 213
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8273863
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Spiria/pseuds/Spiria
Summary: Miwa begs for his sister's life, but Jin only has an answer.





	

Through the fog of rain, he could see the boys' eyes like the beacon of a lighthouse. The water clinging to his goggles faded from view, and he saw himself wading through the fickle but immutable future.

Time didn't slow when Jin saw the future. All the possible branches of what was to come would crash into him as he imagined a hit-and-run would, each possibility vying for his attention and leaving him disoriented in the aftermath. The only certainty was that he always saw too much at once, and that was where his side effect tended to be cruel: There was never enough time.

The distorted images that rippled with Miwa's desperate pleas suddenly cut out like a snuffed candlelight. Jin lowered his gaze, breaking eye contact.

As he appraised the situation from a distance, he said, "That woman is already dead."

Wide-eyed, Miwa followed Jin's line of sight to the body of his sister under him. It was too far for Jin to evaluate personally, but he imagined that the rise and fall of the chest had stopped long before his arrival. That had been the hopeless verdict of his side effect - in all the branches he had seen, there hadn't been a single future where she wasn't a corpse.

"Sorry."

**Author's Note:**

> I've read theories about Jin letting Miwa's sister expire to realize the future where Miwa becomes a Border agent. If one were to tweak that a bit, it's also possible that Jin might have seen an unavoidable future where the most important variable (at the time) was always the same, in which case there was nothing he could have done from the start.
> 
> There's nothing like crushing hope by saying that what you've been hoping for was made impossible long before you could do anything; however, being forthright with Miwa was Jin's way of being merciful, as empty reassurances make loss harder to bear later. Now imagine if Jin had seen his mother's death and had to deal with that on top of giving someone else their bad news. At that moment, he would have understood the pain of losing an important female presence more than anyone.
> 
> It's a sad day when the note is almost as long as the fic.
> 
> P.S. If anyone's interested in World Trigger merchandise, check out my rubber strap sales post [here](http://feriyen.tumblr.com/post/150842877759)!


End file.
